Do Gasoline Prices Need to Be Regulated?

gas prices are already regulated, hence the multiple taxes...

Ahhhhh.... How did I know it was 009 that posted this?? Something about the socialist propooganda that this article is!!!

The reason that gas has gone up so much is because all of the refineries has started switching over their plants to make the "summer blend" of gasoline. Leaving the "Winter Blend" in short supply.

Prices wouldn't go up if we didn't have to do this. Infact gas would be around .90 cents per gallon if we could have one standard across the entire US. But becasue of the church of Global Warming and Environ"mental"ism we have to have 75 different kinds of gasoline across the country.

If you want a clean solution then make californias mix standard and then we could all have cheaper gas!!!

Remember we only have 5 years to live anyways according to Al Gore and his fake movie!! i can't wait!!!

Just food for thought:

1. Gasoline is approaching an all time high as far as prices while production costs are relatively stationary.

2. The oil industry is posting record profits in general.

3. Research and development for exploration is relatively stagnant in the industry.

4. No new oil refineries are being built or even on the boards. (actually the are begging for federal funding to help them here, even though record dividends are being posted)

So the net result is:

1. More money in the pockets of shareholders.

2. They are maximizing profit by cutting back on exploration and development to increase margins.

3. No new refining capacity on the horizon.

Sounds a lot like the Big 3 in the 80's. Maximize your profits and cut development and take the windfall.

1. Oil and Gas consumption around the world is at an all time high also. Production costs might be stationary for the most part, but the cost of crude IS NOT and this is because we are bidding against more and more people when we goto buy crude and unlike 30 years ago when the big oil companies actually pumped more than 10% of the crude they used, today those oil companies have to buy 90%+ of their crude at market value from the big oil producing nations.

2. Record profits yes, but their profit margins have only increased in very minute ways. They are still making only about $.10 or less per dollar spent and this never changes because although production is the same because less than 10% of the oil they produce is also pumped out of the ground by their own pumps. What this means is they have to pay market price for crude. Crude right now is nearing an all time high again if you check. Not quite, but getting close and the current price is partially the result of the winter summer switch making the actual gas prices deviate a bit from the crude prices they normally follow.

3. If their profit margins aren't increasing, logic says that research and development budget money is actually increasing right along with profits. No question. If you lived in TX here you would also notice that oil and gas exploration has went bonkers with these new high oil prices. Is exploration and development happening in the oil producing countries though?? No!! They don't want to fix the supply problem and have to sell at a lower price.

4. This is because due to many federal regulations on what needs to be done to make a new refinery legal and profitable make it impossible to build one and ever dream of paying it off. If environmental regs were changed to ensure public health in the vacinity of the refinery you could probably build one without much subsidy. The fact is though that regs require measures that go far beyond just ensuring local environmental concerns are taken care of. They also include measures to curb greenhouse gas emission. I am not going to go off on how much of a boondogle CO2 and other gas regs are a bunch of crap. Most scientists will admit they aren't sure warming is due to that anyhow. Some will say it might be, but none will show any grand confidence. Most of that theory has a whole bunch of wholes now that it has been studied for 20+ years.

So basically your 3 points are moot.

Profits??? No one ever asks what the government made in taxes on that product?? I bet it was 12 times what the oil companies made!! You act like they are evil because they want tmake money??

Toughy, they made profit BEFORE!! They are making record profits for the simple fact that the crude prices are higher. When crude prices are high their operating costs are high and their financial overall get bloated. They made record profits, but they also spent record amounts of money at the same time. This is why I said their profit margins are the same as they have always been. To educate you, a profit margin is the relationship between net profit and gross revenue. A 10% profit margin means that your profit was 10 percent of your gross revenue. The oil companies are still making 10% or less profit. This means that 90%+ of the money they make gets spent buying crude and exploring for new oil. Microsoft and many other companie make 30%+ profit margins so the oil companies are still make far less on each dollar spent than other companies they are just spending A LOT more money each quarter and year. They are doing this because crude prices are so high right now. When crude goes up so does their spending. Pretty simple stuff. Are you trying to say companies like Microsoft and others making much larger profit margins that oil companies should also have to start selling thier goods and services at a lower profit margin also or are only oil companies supposed to reduce margins?? Their margins are already lower than most other industries.

jasongoudie, that is also a good point. Think that the tax money collected by most oil companies combined with what taxes the government takes from their income more than doubles the money that the oil companies themselve get from the industry. You need to include all the local and state taxes on gas for this number to work, but still governments make more money from the oil industry than the companies that run it bar none.

The point has already been made here that this is mostly due to the switch from winter to summer blends and you always get a supply problem when the refineries and delivery systems have to coordinate this switch each year. It just so happens that this year crude is near that $70 high at the same time this switch is going down. And your 30% number is either off or is some number unrelated to what I am talking about. Most of the large oil companies only get about 10-11% or there abouts of the crude they use from their own operations. So 90% or so is purchased on the open markets. I think the 30% you are refering to is probably not the amount purchased from the open markets. I think 30% of the crude we use is produce and pumped from within our borders. So that is probably where that number comes from. 70% of the oil we use is imported though. And most of the big oil companies actually have to buy 90% or so of their crude from the open market and actually pay refineries to refine it for them mostly. They don't actually own refineries so much as they may own a share in some here and their they they helped get built. But mose of the oil produced in this country is not produced by the big oil companies so much as smaller companies that specialize in exploration and extraction that get the crude and then sell it on the open market rather than selling it below market prices to some big oil company. So really things are a lot less crooked than a lot of people seem to think. It's just that the big oil companies are so huge it seems they are making a killing when really they aren't. The smaller companies such as Valero actually are the only ones that pump, refine, and sell. Their margins are actually really high, but they are so small no one gives them trouble even though they are the ones really making out in all of this.

Or rather the question....

Do American's need to stop using gas guzzling machines to do their daily lives? Get out and grab a bike or take a walk. Stop complaining about something that at some point won't exist anymore. Not in my lifetime and not in my kids (when I want one).

Auto companies will get the stick out of there bum and start to develop alternate fuel sources that are available for the entire popluation. Not just a few stations in North Dakota where even the buffalo say wtf is up with this weather?

Price for gas is going to be high and won't ever be down where we like it. Deal with it and move on.

Absolutely not!!! Gas prices are still primarily a result of supply and demand, although it seems these days that demand is directly tied to the stability of <insert your favorite oil producing nation here>. If you want to lower gas prices, get the gov't to get rid of all the taxes we pay on fuel, let me know how it works out lol.......

The US gov't has enough trouble controlling itself. Who is watching the gov't?

If you regulate gas prices, you dictate supplies. Then we have another oil crisis on our hands like the country did in the 70's. The problem is that oil demand has increased dramitcally with big emerging markets like China and India and everyone has to pay fair market value. The US cannnot bully oil producing nations like it use to. Yes, oil prices are high, but I rather keep the markets free and pay 4.00 dollars for gas then having to wait on a line.

The price of gas is already regulated by the "invisible guiding hand."

premium is 3.00 ????? NOT in California, I pay 3.57 a gallon premium :( ...

Tell me one other industry that is so heavily subsidized by the government. And by this, I mean an industry that we will be willing to go to war over. What bigger subsidy than the lives of thousands to keep the oil flowing, and the profits rolling.

So yeah, gas prices should be heavily regulated. With all that we have lost due to this illegal, immoral war we should at least get something for it.

(Obviously this is way over-simplifying the industry, but my point is, I think, clear.)

As mud!?? The oil is only a small part of why we are over there in a war. We went to Afganastan first you know. How much oil do they export?? And actually the war has probably done more to destabalize oil prices than any other factor. So saying we are over there to try and help with oil supply is just stupid. It has done a lot more to hurt the worlds oil supply than help it. And even if we do win the war that really doesn't give any garuntee we will somehow have a new low priced source of oil in the mideast. Just gives us one more option is all. Whether liberals like yourself want to believe it or not, the biggest reason we are there is to protect this country from another attack like 9/11. I for one am quite happy we removed Sadaam. If there was one person in the world you could count on to help out with another attack, he would be at the top of the candidate list before we removed him. Now he isn't on the list at all. He is just gone.

Wow, you cant even get your head out of the sand long enough to realize that the particluar talking point you are spewing is no longer in circulation. We left the 9/11 myth long ago. What are we up to now? As of yesterday, we're in Iraq to allow liberated Iraqis the freedom to march in the streets (protesting us) and burn flags (the US flag, although most of Congress thinks Americans should be imprisoned for that very act). That's why we're there, get with the talking points. We're definitely not in Iraq to help the oil industry make profits greater than any other industry in the history of all mankind. What the hell was I thinking?

Lordy. Nevermind. You're heart bleads far to fast to ever understand the danger an unstable dictator who has once been to war with our nation once presented. That danger is no longer there, but now we have Shiite's led by a NEW terrorist who is not freindly with us begging us to leave so they can return the country to the state it was in before Saddam was removed. Saddam was Sunni, but that is what makes the possibility of such a take over so much more logical. In the end you would have another anti US dictator ready and willing to help fund more terrorist activities against the west. That's the simple fact. Unless we stay over there and try to get a strong democracy that can resist extremist movements on it's own we risk leaving a new variety of breading ground for terrorism.

As a side note, these mideast countries are the ones making all the money in the industry. Have you ever seen what is going on in Dubai?? What oil company do you know of that could fund that kind of development????

Would this be that same dictator that was all chummy w/Dick and Don? And do you really believe we can "install" a democracy in the middle east. C'mon we created a Shiite country right next to our good buddies (shiite) Iran. And Iraq wasnt supporting terrorism before we got there. Again, thats one of those talking points that even Fox has given up on.

Here is a question. Why did we go into Iraq? I seem to remember we had a reason... oh wait that turned out to be we had the wrong ifo. Or as I like to look at it, the Pres lied to us to infaid a country. The war is bogus. Its Bushs private army. If you believe they are over there protecting the USA you have your head in the sand. If anything right now if a country infaided us we would probably lose. We have no army to protect the people of the USA. Its (our army)is oever fighting an oil war and its looking like there is no way we will win it. Best thing to do. Lets save some American lifes and get the hell out of there before we lose a lot more lives. Plus by doing this we will save a hell of a lot of money that could be better used in protecting this country on its own soil... Oh I think the oil companys should have to explain record profits. Yeah they have to pay market prices. But When a barrel goes up 7 dollar why is it we have to pay 70 cents more for it? Last time I checked that barrel is based off of 55 gallons. I am probably wrong on that number. Also if you factor in the fact that here in the USA we don't correct for fuel expanding when its above 60 degrees the oil companys are making more profits than they should. The oil companys are suppost to sell the fuel at 60 degrees. In summer we buy fuel thats warmer than 60 degree. So if you buy 30 gallons of fuel thats 80 degrees your not getting the same amount of energy that you would at 60 degrees. So your being ripped off. The oil companys say it will cost us if they have to install the pumps. I say they are in wrong of the law. They need to install these pumps and be fined for not doing so before now. Also someone will point out that in the winter we buy fuel thats lower than 60 degree so we get more energy in 30 gallons at 30 degree than at 60 dgrees. The study (how i wish I had a link to it) said even when you factor that in the oil companys are still making more money off of heated fuel. And if they had the pumps that corrected for the fuel temp then it would also correct for when its colder than 60 degrees.
just my very long winded thoughts..

not to try to burst the political bubble of many posts here, but if you actually believe the bullshit reasons why gas prices rise then you're...well... a dumbass. Prices rise for one and for ONE reason only: PROFIT. Do you really think it's a coincidence that EVERY summer (you know...that time where people drive a lot more) gas prices sky rocket? No coicidence... that's just business. Simple as that. And, gas only continues to rise because frankly I think that the gas industry/gov't is just trying to see how how they can go and still keep people paying for it. The answer to that, though is also rather simple: people gotta drive, so there is no cap on price. Many people can't afford to just go out and go buy a hybrid or something else and then there are a lot that just don't want to. There is no cap that gas will ever technically have because as long as we have engines that require gasoline and as long as we have bills to pay and cars we want we will pay whatever they force us to pay. And that's just that.

Years ago people said I would never pay the prices we're paying now. Guess what. They are.

Yes, Gas prices are high, If you don't want to spend too much on gas prices here are a few suggestions:

Get a fuel efficient car.
Don't be a lead foot driver.
Consider Diesel or a Hybrid.
Don't buy a gas guzzling car, if you do then don't complain.

Carpool if you can. Plan out your day, so that you don't end up driving everywhere from one side of town to the other.

The last time gasoline was regulated was during the Carter admin., a complete disaster! I well remember the lines as the Carter officials "allocated" oil supplies to where they thought the demand was; and they were consistently wrong. Who voted for that guy anyway?

whine, whine, whine.......whine............whine......

americans pay the LEAST for gas of any industrialized country. only in oil PRODUCING countries is gas cheaper.

gas prices are not only NOT REGULATED here, they (and the Big Oilys generally) are SUBSIDIZED.

EXCESS PROFITS taxes oughta be slapped on the Big Oily Bastards. taxes overall should be upped to make gas cost $10/gallon. THEN americans will buy sensible cars like the rest of the world.

Once again proving you must be a professor in economics!! When are you going to tell everyone you just a socialist loving euro on your way to cheerleading for communism.

P.S. When do you want me to send my paycheck to you?? Also where is the closest bread line located? All I ask is that you redistribute my wealth evenly among your elite friends ensuring that the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor!!

There isn't a better solution to Global Warming becasue there isn't any Global Warming!!!

So I have a question. I am able to afford one vehicle and one for my wife. I need 4wheel drive in the winter to support my family when it snows also to get thru job sites. I need to be able to carry large loads up to 2500 pounds of building supplys daily. I need to be able to tow a trailer when needed. Also need it to carry 4 people for when I need to pick up the kids. Also I am always running across town for a meeting and the wife is at work. Also don't tell me to car pool because I need to be able to be mobile and the wife needs to have a car for her job. What little car do you suppose I buy to be able to do all this? The wifes car needs to be able to hold 4 people and one of those people needs a wheel chair, so you need to be able to store it and be able to help that person enter and exit the car. So I ask you, do you have a suggestion for me... I would love to know what I could buy that got better fuel mileage than I am getting now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17997788/site/newsweek/

From some hick at M.I.T. must be a consensus right???

Doesn't exist.